Can anyone, please, explain to me how a credit card works?

Question

I am a new immigrant - I have been in the States for 2 years, but just got my Resident status. We do not have credit system in my country, so it seems to me to be extremely confusing. My husband has not a good credit, I have none. We'd like to buy a house in future. But for now I'm thinking we need a credit card. We both have secured cards, but now his bank pre-approved him for a CC. Should he open it? Also, HOW DO CREDIT CARDS WORK???? I have minimum idea.
Thank you.

Answer 1

You want to buy something. You offer your credit card and make your purchase. Later, the credit card company bills you for your purchase. You pay it. If you go over the limit you are allowed to charge, you will get an extra charge for it. If you are late in paying the bill, you will be charged for it. If you do not pay the bill in full, you will be charged interest, not only for the balance but for any additional purchases you make until your bill is paid in full.

Credit cards offer a lot of benefits. Some of them offer extended warranties for the things you purchase. They help you resolve disputes with sellers. They limit your liability if they're stolen. Some of them even pay back money to you.

But use any credit card with extreme caution. Don't go over your limit. If you don't pay your balance off in full (and on time) every month, the interest rates and fees will dwarf any benefit you will get from using the card. Most people make the mistake of thinking a credit card will stretch their money because they can buy things they don't have the money for. That's dead wrong. It doesn't stretch your money; it *shrinks* it. The reality is that you not only have to pay for what you bought, but interest on top of it. As a result, you'll eventually wind up paying $121 for something that you initially charged for $100. It's not a good way to live. Don't get in over your head.

Credit cards are like a hammer. If you use them responsibly, then can be a great tool. If you are careless, you will smash your thumb.

Answer 2

In simplest terms, a credit card allows a person to borrow money from a bank a little bit at a time.

When a bank issues a credit card, the borrower agrees to repay the bank a certain amount each month. For most cards, this amount is either a percentage of the amount owed, or a flat, fixed amount. Eventually, the card holder can pay off the total amount owed, unless the credit card is uses to purchase something again.

For this service, the bank will charge interest, usually a percentage of the balance owed. The interest is added to the amount borrowed. For most credit card accounts, the percentage is very high, compared to a loan where someone borrows an amount of money at one transaction.

Secured cards can be a good start to establishing a credit history. (credit history is VERY important to lenders when they have to decide if they want to lend you a large amount.)

The pre approved credit card is often a scam, a fraud, used to trick someone into charging (borrowing) large amounts of money at extremely high interest with unreasonable pay back schedules. You must take care when accepting one of these cards. The offer from your husband's bank may be a perfectly legitimate deal, offered by the bank because of his history with the bank. Read ALL the conditions carefully before you accept the card. Things to watch out for include, annual fees, monthly fees, the rate of interest, and the payback schedule.

Use the card as little as possible, only for things you need and for which you cannot pay cash. Avoid using it for purchases you have to make regularly, such as gasoline, groceries, utilities. Charging these items means you will be paying for something long after the purchase has been used up.

Protect your credit. Make payments on time. Be careful.

Good luck.

Answer 3

A credit card system is a type of retail transaction settlement and credit system, named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. A credit card is different from a debit card in that the credit card issuer lends the consumer money rather than having the money removed from an account. It is also different from a charge card (though this name is sometimes used by the public to describe credit cards) in that charge cards require that the balance be paid in full each month. In contrast, a credit card allows the consumer to 'revolve' their balance, at the cost of having interest charged. Most credit cards are the same shape and size, as specified by the ISO 7810 standard.

Click the link for more info. You may also want to check out the credit card companies websites for more info.

Many places "Pre-approve" you for credit cards. This does not mean you'll actually get them. It's just a sollicitation. Keep in mind that everytime you apply for a credit card, it hurts your credit score whether you get it or not.

Answer 4

A credit card is a piece of plastic, which carries information electronically. A person can use the credit card by just swiping it on a credit card reader to send the card information to be verified. The size of the credit card is 3-1/8” x 2-1/8”. You can use the credit card to buy products and can pay them later. That is why it is also called as electronic money.

The shiny stripe on the back of the credit card is called as magstripe, which is the main thing in the credit card. When a person swipes the credit card in the magstripe reader the information is sent to the central tracking system, which has all the information about the card owner, balance details, country, zip code etc. There are trillions of credit cards issued in the U.S. People have a minimum of 2 credit cards in their name.

With e-commerce picking up, the amount of money spent through credit card is set to rise. If credit cards are used wisely, it could be a great tool. Most of the consumers don’t use it in a correct manner and don’t pay the monthly credit card bills on time. If you don’t pay your credit card bills on time, then the interest rates will add on to the principal and the amount payable would increase. The rates of interest charged by credit card companies are very high. So, use your credit cards wisely.

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Answer 5

CC are pretty simple, the CC company gives you a credit limit, or sometimes no limit, lets say they give you a $10,000 limit, that means that you can spend up to that amount on credit (not money that in your accounts or whatever, it is money that they are giving to you), now comes the catch, you have to pay the money back with interest, say 10%, so if you spend all $10,000 on credit you will owe $11,000, unless you pay it off in the grace period (usually 25 days). Another catch that interest is every month, so the next month you will owe $12,100, and it goes on and on. THe smartest thing to do is to get as low interest CC as you can and only use it to purchase things that you have the money to pay for in the grace period, for example, say you kids want a new bike and you have the money to pay for it. Buy the bike with the credit card, and then pay it off the next week, keep the balance on the card below like $500, that will help you build your credit so that you can buy a house later,
Also another good way to build your credit is to finance a car and make all your payments on time, that also helps build credit

Answer 6

Credit Cards - the issuer extends a line of credit to use wherever and whenever you please. Properly used, they are a good idea. If you use them badly, they are a nightmare. If you decide to use a credit card, do not ever charge more on it than you know you can pay by the due date. If you only use it that way, you will not have to worry about finance charges [they vary with the issuer]. How do credit cards work: Retail stores pay a fee to accept credit card transactions. That is one way the card issuer makes money. The other ways the issuer makes money is by giving you a line of credit that you cannot afford so that you are tempted to spend more money than you can repay by the time it is due. When that happens, you pay the issuer a finance charge of up to 28% - and it takes you forever and lots of money to get out of debt. So, if you use one, use it carefully.

Answer 7

You will need a credit card to establish credit. Get a credit card but only charge what you will be able to afford to pay off as soon as the bill comes. Don't charge on it if you can't afford it because that is not going to help your credit at all. Good luck!

Answer 8

A credit card is like a loan. You buy something now and pay the bank back later. If you don't pay your balance in full every month they charge you a percentage of what you owe. You end up paying back more then you borrowed.
Don't get the card unless you plan to pay it off every month.

Answer 9

charge playing cards are in reality eliminating a private loan from the loaner, on your case, boa. What they do is furnish you with a reduce in protecting along with your income, sources, previous thoughts and so on. that is frequently an quantity that you will be honestly waiting to pay lower back if some thing takes position. They attempt this becuase, in protecting with how a lot you employ you card, you should furnish them money in go back (to boot as pay lower back although a lot you borrowed). as an celebration: My credit deal, is I actually have a $500 reduce. It expenses me not some thing if i dont use it, yet when i do, I even ought to pay off that volume plus both $5 or 5%, whichever one is larger in accordance to month. word that the 4% or 5% is repayed in accordance to month, not in accordance to purchase. So, if i changed into to make a $250 purchase, i'd ought to pay off them the $250 plus one extra $12.50. Please, seem on the decrease than hyperlink for extra assistance. guy S :)

Answer 10

A credit is just something you basicly go in debt with unless you pay it off at the end of the month. Its better to just use a debit card with your own cash!